Signals (typically television signals as contemplated herein) transmitted by geostationary satellites are generally received on the ground by parabolic dish antennae. The strength of the signal being transmitted determines the size or diameter of the dish required for reception (i.e., weaker signals require larger dishes). At the present time, signals being transmitted generally require a dish having a diameter of three meters or more for proper reception. In the near future, however, it is anticipated that satellites transmitting more powerful signals will be put into orbit, thereby permitting the use of dish antennae having greatly reduced diameters. Such dishes will obviously cost less than today's large dishes. Accordingly, it is expected that many homeowners and owners of apartment buildings will want to purchase the smaller dish for television viewing in the home or apartment. As a consequence, the dish will require installation or mounting on a variety of rooftops of varying slopes and configurations. Accordingly, the dish's mounting structure will have to be capable of supporting the dish on such surfaces and should do so in a manner that rigidly and securely fixes the dish since proper reception therewith requires that the dish accurately maintain its preset alignment with the transmitting satellite.
Strong winds are particularly troublesome in that such can move the dish out of its preset alignment with the transmitting satellite. To prevent this from happening, it has been established that the satellite dish's total pointing error should not exceed 0.5.degree. in winds up to 50 mph. For safety reasons, it is also desirable that the mounting structure have the capacity to resist 100 mph wind loads without failure and without loss of the dish. Furthermore, the mounting structure should be capable of withstanding such wind speeds without damaging the roof or other surface to which it is attached. Accordingly, to meet these objectives, the mounting structure should be very rigid and it should be able to distribute loads to its mounting surface without causing significant damage thereto.